NEW SOIL MAPS OF THE CONTINENTS, SCALE 1 25M AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL-SCALE SOIL MAPPING/

New soil maps of the continents, scale 1 : 25M (1 : 10M for Europe) ha ve been compiled for a geographic electronic atlas ''Man and Earth.'' The maps have a common list of soil units. Practically, a new world so il map, scale 1 : 25M, has been compiled. As compared to the existing soil maps, including those of larger scales, it has the highest number of legend units, 178, while the FAO-UNESCO map has 102 (sc. 1 : 5M) a nd the Soil Map for School of Higher Education 105 (sc. 1 : 15M). Corr ections in the world soil cover pattern have been introduced, basicall y, for the humid and subhumid tropics of Africa and South America, tem perate areas in Europe, and subarid Asia. A brief analysis of small-sc ale soil mapping over the last decades is presented in the article; it s problems and objectives are discussed, as well as the contribution o f I.P. Gerasimov to this field of soil science.